Copyrights and Internet Piracy (SOPA and PIPA Legislation)

News about Copyrights and Internet Piracy (SOPA and PIPA Legislation), including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 2, 2015

Pop singer Robin Thicke is enmeshed in lawsuit over copyright infringement that has raised questions about plagiarism and offered insight into darker side of music industry; amidst claims by family of Marvin Gaye that Pharrell Williams and Thicke's 2013 hit song Blurred Lines used elements from one of Gaye's songs, Thicke has testified that he did not write hit, despite a credit. MORE

Feb. 16, 2015

The photographer Donald Graham has sent cease-and-desist letters to the artist Richard Prince and the Gagosian Gallery, requesting that they stop displaying or disseminating any artworks or other materials that include Mr. Graham’s images. MORE

Nov. 5, 2014

Pirate Bay co-founder Hans Fredrik Lennart Neij is arrested in Thailand under Interpol warrant; Neij and other Pirate Bay co-founders were convicted of aiding copyright infringement by a Swedish court in 2009. MORE

Oct. 31, 2014

Federal Judge John A Kronstadt says trial is needed to determine whether hit song 'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied elements of Marvin Gaye song Got to Give It Up. MORE

Oct. 6, 2014

Author and management guru Dov Seidman is suing Greek yogurt manufacturer Chobani, contending that use of the word 'how' in its advertisements has infringed on his trademark; Seidman's new book How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything highlights concept that he and his company LRN have spent 10 years building. MORE

Sep. 28, 2014

Profile of Hana Beshara, founder of streaming video site NinjaVideo who served 16 months in prison for conspiracy and criminal copyright infringement; Beshara remains a hero in the online community as an innovator in piracy, trend that continues to thrive despite government crackdown. MORE

Sep. 27, 2014

Marvel and heirs of comic book artist Jack Kirby reach settlement, ending bitter and long-running legal dispute over ownership rights to Marvel superheroes; financial details are not disclosed. MORE

Sep. 24, 2014

United States District Court Judge Philip S Gutierrez in Los Angeles rules that Sirius XM is liable for copyright infringement by failing to pay royalties on recordings made before 1972; case, which could have wide implications for digital music business, was filed in 2013 by members of 1960s band the Turtles. MORE

Sep. 19, 2014

Internet Party, New Zealand political party founded by Kim Dotcom, Internet entrepreneur accused of mass copyright theft in the United States, stands a chance at winning seats in Parliament in the national elections; party advocates decriminalizing marijuana, setting a national goal of 100 percent sustainable energy generation by 2025, repealing surveillance legislation and amending copyright laws to protect Internet companies. MORE

Jun. 26, 2014

Supreme Court rules that television streaming service Aereo has violated copyright laws by capturing broadcast signals on miniature antennas and delivering them to subscribers for a fee; decision is major victory for broadcast networks and has far-reaching implications for the entertainment and technology business. MORE

Jun. 11, 2014

Entertainment and media executives, in House Judiciary subcommittee hearing, plead for changes to how music rights are acquired and paid for online by radio and television stations; executives repeatedly clash with one another, giving lawmakers preview of how difficult it may be to satisfy all parties in evolving and fractious music market. MORE

Jun. 10, 2014

Google becomes latest organization to explore how or whether to capitalize on ephemeral art like graffiti with its Street Art Project, database of images from cultural organizations worldwide; street art poses legal, ethical and copyright issues, so Google has set strict conditions to hopefully mitigate such concerns and potential liabilities. MORE

May. 20, 2014

Supreme Court revives copyright lawsuit against owners of acclaimed 1980 movie Raging Bull; suit, filed in 2009 by daughter of the author of the screenplay, had been dismissed on appeal for being brought too late. MORE

May. 1, 2014

Leftist publisher Lawrence & Wishart asserts copyright ownership over 50-volume, English-language edition of Karl Marx's and Friedrich Engels's writings, and forces Marxist Internet Archive, website devoted to radical writers and thinkers, to take down works by the two philosophers. MORE

Apr. 28, 2014

David Carr The Media Equation column notes inevitable shift away from cable television's practice of bundling packages of channels that compel subscribers to purchase programming they will never watch; says Aero's copyright battle in front of Supreme Court may mean a future where consumers will be able to assemble a la carte menu of entertainment is closer than ever. MORE

Apr. 23, 2014

Supreme Court signals that it is conflicted as it considers request to shut down Aereo, Internet start-up that streams over-the-air signals to subscribers, which television broadcasters say threatens economic viability of their businesses; justices suggest that service is based solely on 'circumventing legal prohibitions,' but are clearly concerned ruling against Aereo could negatively impact future technological innovation. MORE

Apr. 23, 2014

David Carr The Media Equation column notes that Supreme Court is hearing broadcasters' lawsuit against Aereo, obscure start-up that streams television shows online using local over-the-air signals on array of tiny antennas; observes that case has little bit of everything, including first big test at Supreme Court of who owns and has rights to things stored in the cloud. MORE

Apr. 21, 2014

David Carr The Media Equation column observes many people will be watching to see how Supreme Court rules over legality of television streaming service Aereo because of what it could mean for broader media ecosystem; says court will decide whether service is consumer-friendly or another case of an Internet pirate trying to loot copyrighted content. MORE

Apr. 18, 2014

Several major record companies file suit in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accusing Pandora Media of violating state's common-law copyright protections by using recordings of songs made before 1972 without permission and not paying royalties. MORE

Mar. 31, 2014

Independent film executive Ruth Vitale represents new force in Hollywood's copyright wars, having been named as executive director of CreativeFuture; coalition of movie and television producers, unions and companies are determined to work together to finally gain control of film industry's digital future. MORE

Mar. 30, 2014

Chuck Klosterman The Ethicist column answers questions about teachers using pirated copyrighted instructional materials and professors requiring college students to buy their published works. MORE

Mar. 29, 2014

Agloe, fictitious town in the western Catskills of New York State that was recently removed from Google Maps, was invented by mapmakers in 1920s to guard against copyright infringement; for some reason, the name stuck, but how it endured on area charts for so long remains a cartographic mystery. MORE

Mar. 19, 2014

Viacom and YouTube announce that they have settled 2007 copyright violations battle out of court, just one week before two companies were to return to court; settlement reflects changed landscape concerning allegations of copyright violations on the web. MORE

Mar. 17, 2014

Op-Ed article by Denver David Robinson describes how Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper published without permission his photographs and an article about gay Ugandans after Pres Yoweri Museveni criminalized homosexuality; states his intention to file suit against tabloid, which put Ugandans in article at risk, for copyright infringement; holds in order to achieve lasting change, sometimes it is necessary to step forward and even act alone. MORE

Feb. 22, 2014

Groups of photographers, unsettled by federal appeals court ruling that permitted artist Richard Prince to legally use someone else's photographs in his work, are entering legal and legislative debate over copyright and 'transformative' art; have been banding together to press their cause in Congress and the courts. MORE

Feb. 16, 2014

Many classic films have fallen out of copyright for various reasons and are easy to find online or as inferior reproductions, but high quality versions are increasingly being made available. MORE

Jan. 20, 2014

Chet Kanojia, founder of Aereo, company that grabs over-the-air television signals using a tiny antenna and streams them to subscribers on the Internet, has been battling major television networks in court; stations claim that Aereo is threatening their airspace; case, which has just moved to Supreme Court, could have far-reaching implications for the television industry. MORE

Jan. 11, 2014

Supreme Court agrees to resolve dispute between television broadcasters and Internet start-up Aereo, which networks say threatens their businesses; broadcasters contend Aereo’s service violates copyright laws by streaming their programming; company says it is not covered by relevant provisions of those laws. MORE

Dec. 27, 2013

A federal judge ruled that Holmes, Dr. Watson and other elements contained in the stories published prior to 1923 are in the public domain in the United States. MORE

Dec. 25, 2013

The soul singer Ricky Spicer is suing Mr. West for what he says is the unauthorized use of his voice on the track “Bound 2.” MORE

Dec. 16, 2013

A new report from the United States Copyright Office says the government should consider ways to give painters, sculptors and other artists a financial interest in the future sale of their work. MORE

Dec. 12, 2013

New European Union copyright law extends copyright protection to 70 years for recordings that were published within 50 years of being made, prompting record labels to release batches of rare, unissued material; many such releases are extremely limited editions, unpublicized, and available for only short time. MORE

Dec. 11, 2013

In court papers filed on Tuesday, lawyers for the Beastie Boys said that a popular online video that was created by the toy company, GoldieBlox, and contained an alternate version of the band’s song “Girls,” turned the band’s music into “a ‘jingle.’ MORE

Nov. 15, 2013

Judge Denny Chin of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismisses lawsuit filed by authors against Google Books service, which has made millions of books searchable online since it was begun in 2004. MORE

Oct. 31, 2013

Family of Marvin Gaye files countersuit to suit by Robin Thicke and fellow songwriters over his song Blurred Lines; family says song, which was hit for Thicke over summer, infringes on Gaye’s copyright of 1977 hit Got to Give It Up. MORE

Oct. 12, 2013

Alliance of nation's biggest television broadcasters are collectively asking for Supreme Court's support in their quest to stop small Internet start-up Aereo; companies say Aereo's method of sending television signals to paying subscribers from small antenna farms violates decades-old copyright law; lower courts have mostly ruled in Aereo's favor. MORE

Oct. 11, 2013

Warner Brothers harshly denounces suit brought by former college baseball player Ryan A Brooks accusing company and other parties of intricate plot to steal screenplay that eventually became Clint Eastwood film Trouble With the Curve. MORE

Oct. 2, 2013

Supreme Court will hear appeal in copyright dispute arising from movie Raging Bull, brought by Paula Petrella, daughter of friend of Jake LaMotta, boxer portrayed in film Jake LaMotta; case concerns collaborations between LaMotta and Frank P Petrella, including a book and two screenplays, one of which was called The Raging Bull. MORE

Oct. 1, 2013

David Lowery, leader of bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker, has become celebrity among musicians for speaking out about artists' shrinking paychecks in digital age, as well the influence of Silicon Valley over copyright, economics and public discourse. MORE

Sep. 12, 2013

Sony, Universal, Warner and ABKCO sue Sirius XM Radio in California court, saying satellite service used recordings from before 1972 without permission; even though federal copyright protection does not apply to these recordings, suits say they are still covered by state law; challenge could have ripple effects in digital music industry. MORE

Sep. 11, 2013

Singer Victor Willis regains control of his share of copyright to YMCA and other songs he wrote as lead singer for disco group Village People; hopes other artists will take advantage of little-known provision in 1978 copyright legislation that allows musicians and songwriters to recover control of songs after 35 years, even if they originally signed away their rights. MORE

Sep. 1, 2013

Songwriter Barrett Strong had his name struck from copyright documents for song Money (That's What I Want), Motown Records' first national hit; Strong's plight illustrates little-known oddity in American copyright system that record and music publishing companies have not hesitated to exploit; United States Copyright Office does not notify authors of changes in registrations, and until recently the only way to check on any alterations was to visit the archives personally. MORE

Aug. 24, 2013

Metropolitan Transportation Authority issues up to 600 notices a year to merchants and others for using its logos and imagery without permission, more than twentyfold increase since 2005; subway, rail and bus maps are copyright protected, and each subway line symbol is a federally registered trademark. MORE

Aug. 17, 2013

Lawsuit filed by Robin Thicke and his co-writers, Pharrell Williams and Clifford Hayes Jr, aims to protect their song from claims by Marvin Gaye's three children that hit Blurred Lines infringed on copyright of Gaye's 1977 hit Got to Give It up; Thicke and songwriters insist they were inspired by Gaye's song, but didn’t copy it. MORE

Aug. 15, 2013

New business venture by Adage Group and Round Hill Music seeks to introduce songs of the Beatles to a younger generation; will release album of Beatles covers by young bands and is working, through glitch that allowed company to buy rights to six of the band's early songs, to get more of their music onto television and movies. MORE

Aug. 7, 2013

Group of music publishers sues Fullscreen, one of largest suppliers of videos to YouTube, saying that many of so-called multichannel network's videos infringe on publishers' copyrights. MORE

Jul. 19, 2013

A judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the rights-holders of Faulkner’s novels against the studio that released the Woody Allen film. MORE

Jul. 16, 2013

Beatles musical Let It Be begins previews at St James Theater, despite copyright infringement lawsuit brought against it by producers of Rain, previous Beatles tribute show, who are seeking half its revenues. MORE

Jun. 14, 2013

Filmmaker Jennifer Nelson files lawsuit against Warner/Chappell, publishing arm of Warner Music Group, in attempt to block the music company from claiming it owns the copyright to song Happy Birthday to You and charging licensing fees for its use; Nelson believes the song belongs to the public. MORE

Jun. 6, 2013

Op-Ed article by Federal Communications Commission commissioner Ajit V Pai holds decision by Library of Congress, which oversees United States Copyright Office, to state that consumers who unlocks their cellphones to switch to another wireless carrier may be violating 1998 copyright law is classic government overreach; argues law was only intended to prevent piracy and consumers should not be treated like criminals. MORE

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The photographer Donald Graham has sent cease-and-desist letters to the artist Richard Prince and the Gagosian Gallery, requesting that they stop displaying or disseminating any artworks or other materials that include Mr. Graham’s images.